[ I?! ] 
and, therefore, that they both proceed from the 
fame caufe, to wit, the attradtion that obtains be- 
tween the minute particles of different bodies, and 
which is the means of carrying on fo many other 
operations of nature. And, indeed, upon this prin- 
ciple, air feems better fitted to be a general folvent 
than any fluid we know of, becaufe its particles, not 
attracting each other, are more at liberty to unite 
themfelves to the minute particles of other bodies, 
which they do attraCt, and accordingly we find the 
atmofphere contains in it bodies of all kinds. 
The particles of volatile fpirits, which are fj 
eafily, and fo much rarefied by heat, feem to cohere 
very llightly together, and, therefore, may be more 
readily attracted by the air, and evaporate more 
quickly than other fluids. The particles of odori- 
ferous bodies feem to be ftrongly attracted by the 
air, as they are fo readily difperfed through it, and 
camphor i which is a light volatile body, may be in- 
tirely diffolved in the air, without leaving any re- 
mainder. The air abounds with vitriolic and other 
acids, as is plain from the rufting of iron expofed 
to it. It abounds alfo with fulphurous, nitrous, and 
other inflammable particles, as appears by the frequent 
meteors kindled in it. In fhort, the atmofphere, as 
evaporation, but has recourfe to others of a different kind. 
Now as the Abbe’s works have been fome years publifhed, it 
might be fufpeCted that the author of this effay had borrowed a 
hint from thence without acknowledging it, which would have 
been difingenuous : he, therefore, thinks himfelf obliged to de- 
clare, what is certainly true, that he has not here reprefented 
any thing as new, which he was confcious had ever been pro- 
pofed by any one before him, even as a conjecture. 
Z 2 Dr. 
